The year 2020 has seen the world enter unfamiliar territories. In a pre-Covid world, people were in control of their own lives. A functioning world meant being able to be continuously be on the move; some people ran, others walked at their own pace, but there was never complete stasis. Now, as the world has come to a halt, lives are trapped, quite often, in their own, individual bubbles.

The home has become the world, and the dearth of movement leaves no room for escape. Shobhaa Dé’s Lockdown Liaisons is an expression of this very time of stasis; one with lives caught in isolation, and seeking escape.

Dé takes the reader through the fragmented nature of lives in lockdown, where all one can see is their own little world, almost removed from “reality”, and the frequent tidbits of nature moving outside. Each story takes the reader to its own life and shows them the world through a new character’s eyes – a peek into a different, and yet familiar experience of the lockdown.

Lockdown Liaisons is a collection of short stories, split into different volumes and released as ebooks during the lockdown, and then consolidated into a single volume in print. The tales remind you of your own experiences – the frustration, the moments of mirth, the tiny interactions with families around, the momentary collisions of worlds, the conversations in your own mind, that desire for an escape that sometimes materialises in the smallest of ways, and those pangs for the familiar and yet oh-so-distant memories of “normal” life.

Escape

“My neighbour’s pressure cooker always annoyed me. God knows what that family ate and how many times, but I would hear that whistle at least twenty times a day – when I was home, that is.”

The metaphor of this cooker whose whistle can be heard all day may be one of Dé’s best. Titled “A Pressure Cooker Romance”, this story brings out the mounting pressure as the woman is trapped in her home/cooker, experiencing a yearning for the metaphorical escape/whistle:

“Sir told me he would take me to his favourite snack bar once the lockdown was lifted…Had I heard right?” 

Not only this, the story also highlights how the lockdown is simply a magnifying glass that has brought to light several of the problems that have always existed: “I would hear that whistle…twenty times a day – when I was home, that is.”

Some of the other stories take us through these smaller issues, often swept under the carpet in the humdrum existence of everyday life, that have now suddenly gained significance. “After this, Dubai” gives us a peek into the life of new parents struggling to make ends meet and also take care of their one-year-old. Problems surface as they realise their incompatibility:

“It was only when the lockdown struck and we were stuck with the baby at home, that all these things started to bother me.” 

Marital discord is a common trope through the series, as we see women getting tired of sex and putting a stop to it owing to growing irritation with their husbands. “The Man Who Wanted More”, “Little, Joyful Things”, “Vodka…and No Tonic,” “Peace, At Last”, “After This, Dubai?” and “Stuck” all revolve around similar themes, some hinting at domestic violence, and others treating the situation with sarcasm and mirth as women either bear sex with gritted teeth, or outright refuse it.

Again, perhaps partly through a metaphor, and partly through an emerging reality, Dé shows us how the lockdown seems to have taken away every form of escape or freedom from lives.

I, me, mine

“Sorry, but we have to be practical and think of ourselves also. Times are bad.”

Another theme that percolates through several of the stories is the change to a more self-centred lifestyle in the new normal. Shown through her flow-of-consciousness style, where we are thrown directly into the minds of the characters and thus their lives as they navigate the lockdown, these narratives highlight the move to a more isolated mode of living.

Not only does this depict a change in people’s priorities, but it also demonstrates – in “Doctor Doctor”, for instance – an interesting twist to common perceptions. Here, we see the story of two doctors, where our lead character is portrayed as a contrast to the heroic, frontline warriors we have come to regard medical practitioners as. She says:

“...the Covid wards were worse than hell…I had been roped in even though I was most reluctant. I had tried to make some excuse and get out of reporting for duty…I didn’t want to die of Covid!” 

This signals an interesting inversion of the hero stereotype. Not only is she a doctor who does not want to be delivering babies into this ugly Covid-infested world, but she is also one who is blatant about her need to put herself first in these times.

In “A Whiff of Eternity,” the lead character is again frank in her desire to only think of herself, when she prioritises going out and meeting her crush instead of visiting her mother in the hospital. While feeling guilty, she also admits to not being able to put any one else’s needs above her own after having been isolated for so long. In “After this, Dubai?”, the young mother leaves us with a dire thought: “The virus has killed the woman I once was.” Is there ever going to be a point of recovery? Or is this really the new normal?

Getting out

“Till I could look up at the sky again, and hear a koyel sing, heralding the rains”

The idea of nature or the world outside seems to be the only form of escape or freedom for the characters. Trapped in their homes, they regard their journeys out of the home as small, treasured moments of guilty pleasure. While in “Beach House Birthday,” a trip to Alibaug and an open sea is used to depict the idea of a holiday that never comes to an end thanks to the lockdown, “Rasam and Weed” shows us a young couple that likes to escape the monotony and the rules of the parents’ home with a joint in the balcony.

In “A Whiff of Eternity,” we see a heartbroken young woman, recovering from a breakup, find respite in “my evening walk, which made me feel there would be a silver lining to those early monsoon clouds racing across Mumbai skies.” Dé captures beautifully in these snippets the longing for a freer life, and the nostalgia for the old normal.

While her stories bring to light several of the common elements of the lockdown, her characters continue to be varied and present a different take and element in each story. Be it the seamstress in Benares coming to terms with the supposed death of a client, the migrant worker struggling with the decision to go home, the Punjabi bride-to-be facing a broken engagement, or the maid moving her aged employer into her own home for the lockdown, the characters come to face diverse crossroads in their journeys.

Each story leaves us with a unique after-taste of the character and their decisions – we know and understand why they did what they did, but would we do it differently? Dé’s own familiarity with the worlds of some of these characters and the distance from the worlds of others often becomes evident through her portrayals. The interiority in “A Whiff of Eternity” or the well-placed humour in “Stuck” fade in “Leaving” and “No Chicken Please,” where we are left with a more vague portrayal of the world. All in all, however, Lockdown Liaisons paints a vivid picture of the memories of India in lockdown.

Lockdown Liaisons, Shobhaa Dé, Simon & Schuster India.